Never accustomed to frills or luxuries,  her thinning gray hair was scraped back in a meager bun.  In the early 20th century,  her married life began in a rural, two-storied, red-shingle house devoid of electricity or indoor plumbing.

Raising three children during the Depression era, sometimes with an absentee husband who traveled from Illinois to Colorado in search of carpentry work, could not have been easy.

Amazingly enough she was never called Grandmother or Grandma, but answered to Mom from children and grandchildren alike.  Her counterpart, my Grandfather, was Grandnan.   Sorry to say, I don’t remember how those names came to be.

Which brings us to the frequently-asked question of every new grandparent, “What do you want to be called?”

Believe it or not, several websites and at least three books have been devoted to that very question.

An example from namenerds.com :  two little girls named  their grandfather Alvin because he had puffy cheeks like the singing chipmunk. The grandmother became butter-butt after  a margarine wrapper stuck to her butt when she backed into a trash basket.

A long list of possible nicknames can be found at thenewparentsguide.com.  Many are of foreign origin such as: Abuela (Spanish), Baba (Serbian), Bube (buh-bee, Yiddish) for Grandmother and Didi (Croatian), Dziadzia (Polish),  and Gammlefar (Norwegian) for Grandfather.

At grandparents.com read how seven grandchildren massacred Curly Grandma in the following ways:  Turdy Drama, CrrGrr, DumDum, and Telly Dama through their toddler years.

The New Grandparents Name Book has more than 700 names and name combinations from which to choose.

For  a sampling of grandparent names along with some touching stories about grandparents and grandchildren, You Can Call Me Hoppa! is just the ticket.

Along with  1000 or more  possible names, The Big Book of Grandparents’ Names has included a section with other languages so you can look up your heritage (Irish, Italian, Serbian, Chinese, even Eskimo).  Additional features includes  proverbs, quotes and the sign language for Grandmother and Grandfather.

I seldom wear a dress and never an apron besides spending considerable sums of money to hide those graying hairs, so I’m hoping for a less generic name than grandma, but the final choice is yet to be made.

What do your darling grandchildren call you?

Having a few doubts about the role in general, maybe a couple of  fears or just general trepidation in all areas?

Don’t feel like you’re alone.  It’s an unexplored jungle full of unexpected jogs and twists.  Given that I’ve worked with teens and children for almost 30 years, it should be a cinch.  If so, I’m not feeling it yet!

What exactly is  a grandparent?

Will he/she like me?

What will I do if  asked to babysit?

About a month before the ‘blessed event’ the prospective parents gifted me with the following:   The Little Big Book for Grandmothers.

This darling little book can’t change a diaper for you, but the 6 1/2 inch square, 350-page volume, is crammed with the following:

*18 fairy tales like The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, Snow White and Rose Red, The Fisherman and His Wife, and Rapunzel

*19 poems by e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, Ogden Nash, Shel Silverstein

*13 nursery rhymes including Goosey, Goosey, Gander, and Old Mother Hubbard

*15 songs such as:  Polly Wolly Doodle, Billy Boy, Little Red Caboose and Farmer in the Dell

*26 finger plays and action  games including Here is the Church, Freeze Tag, Hide and Seek, Ring around the Rosey .

*More than 30 activities from embroidery and making a family quilt, to   holiday crafts for Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, July 4th, Christmas and Easter.

*More than 30 recipes from Ice Cream Sundaes and Strawberry Shortcake to Pecan Pie and a variety of cookies

As you can see editors Lena Tabori and Alice Wong have included everything that a grandmother could possibly need.  A complete list of other little big books can be found here.

Seek out a book club either at your local library, church or even online.

Library book clubs are attractive, because a paid staff  member selects the reading material, reserves copies of the book and leads the discussion.  No effort is required on your part except reading the book.

Finding/Starting a Book Club

But if you’d prefer a smaller, friendlier group, start your own book club.  Fewer members mean more control not only of book selection but also discussion time.

Contact neighbors, either apartment or subdivision, plus compatible friends and social acquaintances.  People who live in close proximity have an easier time getting together on a monthly basis.  Nobody likes to drive a long distance after working all day.

How to Create a Book Club

To alert neighbors that a subdivision book club was forming, we hit the streets, talking to people and handing out fliers.  Amazingly enough we gathered several interested readers who have been meeting  for almost three years in each other’s homes.

From the beginning, we designated  ourselves a ‘no frills’ group.  We meet to share our observations, drink bottled water with sometimes a light snack afterwards.  Of course, making sure your house is presentable requires a little effort, but two hours of adult conversation is well worth the grunt work.

How to Choose the Book

Choosing each month’s book eats up valuable time that could be better spent chatting.  Plan ahead to avoid the inevitable question, “What are we reading next?”

Finding Discussion Questions

The monthly newsletter from www.goodreads.com overflows with book suggestions.  This site also enables you to rate and keep track of your reading history as well as check out what your friends and their friends are reading.

For a  list of the  best 100 books of the decade as designated by The Times on Line, click here.  The 2009 The BBC Book Dare also recommends 100 titles for your reading pleasure.

A yearly list of books makes it easier for members to find the designated selection.  Again, library personnel can be a valuable asset. Using  inter-library loan, they find enough copies of the agreed-upon title and alert you when it’s available for check out.  Most libraries now extend borrowing time up to one month instead of the traditional two weeks.  Just ask!

For convenience, larger library systems  put together and circulate book club kits.  These canvas totes usually include copies of the book, background information about the author, a synopsis of the book and suggested discussion questions plus a handy check out list for members to sign.

Our town’s library is quite small, so we usually select two titles each month. Selections are e-mailed to the staff and within a week or so, each member receives a circulation notice that their copy has arrived.

When it comes to finding discussion questions there are several sites from which to choose.  A few examples are: www.readinggroupguides.com, www.litlovers.com, www.bookbrowse.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. (The Barnes and Noble site has a special book club section with lots of helpful information.)

Should all of these avenues dead end, write the questions yourself.  If you find a certain passage of the novel puzzling, interesting, or worthy of comment, others will too.  Jot down page numbers as you read.

When you have finished reading, check back through your notations and formulate questions.  What may seem difficult at first try, gets easier with a little practice.

Start simple:  What did you think the author was trying to say on page 37?  What did you like/dislike about the main character? Would you read another book by this author?

If  you or your group has questions, please feel free to ask.  Happy to help!!

Sometimes the evening will feature the movie version of a favorite book and other times the high point will be a game of trivia drawn from the year’s reading list.

For December ’09, Anne compiled a jeopardy game using information from the following books:

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

84, Charing Cross Road

Wish You Well

The Persian Pickle Club

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Third Angel

Back When We Were Grownups

The categories and the questions were as follows:

The British Isles

1. A channel island between England and France where our August selection took place: (Guernsey Island)
2. The Marks & Company address Helene Hanff sends her reading requests to: (84 Charing Cross Rd)
3. Lucy Green is given a dog while visiting this country:  (Scotland)
4. Biddy, Patch & No No’s mother lives in this country:  (England)
5. The Lion Park Hotel in London plays a big role in this book : (The Third Angel)

Food & Drink

1. Precious Ramotswe enjoys this particular brew:  (bush tea)
2. Rebecca Davitch gets this spilled all over her shoes by her future mother-in-law:  (ham)
3. Dessert was always provided by the weekly hostess of this group:
(Persian Pickle Quilt Club)
4. Will Allenby’s nightly dinner: (chili)
5. Tinned ham and eggs were some of the gifts Helene sent because of this in 84 Charing Cross Rd: (rationing)

Mysteries

1. Besides coal, this other fuel was also discovered in the Cardinal coal mine:
(natural gas)
2. Ella Crooks husband Ben disappeared and was found here: (buried in a field)
3. The problem with Michael Macklin’s room on the 7th floor of the Lion Park Hotel: (haunted/ghost -of Teddy Healy)
4. Mma Makutsi figures out that Mr J.L.B. Matekoni’s house is being used as this: (illegal bar – shebeen)
5. Mma Ramotswe’s secret that she can’t bring herself to tell anyone:
(she thinks she is still married to her 1st husband)

Friends, Relatives & Others

1. Mma Ramotswe’s office manager proudest achievement:
(97% on her final exam from Botswana Secretarial College)
2. Louisa Mae & Oz Cardinal go to live with this relative when their parents died:  (great-grandmother)
3. Juliet & Dawsey decide to do this:  (get married)
4. How Helene Hanff and Frank Doel kept in touch:  (letter writing/post/mail)
5. The gift Zepha leaves for Queenie when she and Blue leave suddenly:
(Quilt- called Road to California)

Name That Book

Identify book by location

1. Takes place in Appalachia – (Wish You Well)
2. Kansas – (Persian Pickle Club)
3. New York and London – (84 Charing Cross Rd)
4. Baltimore – (Back When We Were Grownups)
5. Botswana – (In The Company of Cheerful Ladies)

Note: Elly won the prize for the most correct answers.

** To facilitate this year-end trivia bash, refer to the discussion questions distributed monthly.

What does your bookclub do for fun?

***Thanks to Anne for sharing the jeopardy book trivia with my readers!!

IN-4/3050
Holiday Character Ruler Bookmarks
$4.99 48 Piece(s)

Made of translucent vinyl. (4 dozen per unit) 5 1/4″ © OTC

Dog lovers might prefer one of these:IN-12/2215Plush Dog Bookmarks$5.99 Per Dozen

Each cute pooch comes on a satin ribbon and is ready to guard where you left off! 11″© OTC

For the crafty bookclubber, try this one:

IN-41/1228Christmas Bookmark Craft Kit
$4.99 Makes 12

With self-adhesive jewels and felt! Makes 12. Approx. 3 1/2″© OTC

For a Mom’s book club:

IN-57/2388
24 Fabulous Foam Mom Bookmarks
$5.99 Makes 24

Bookmarks, 3 1/4″ x 4″; shapes, 3/8″ – 1 3/4″.Ribbon included.© OTC

For that personal touch:

IN-4/46980
Personalized Holiday Pencils With Bookmarks
$7.99 24 Piece(s)

Each 7 1/2″ wooden pencil comes with a 6 1/2″ paper bookmark. Personalize them with 1 line of 30 characters/spaces. (2 dozen per unit) © OTC

Go to Oriental Trading Company to see all eleven pages of available bookmarks.

Can you guess which one I’m giving to all my bookish friends?

]]> http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/quick-gifts/feed 0 http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/all-american-food http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/all-american-food#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:35:45 +0000 Linda http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/?p=1464 “I could put this on a flip-flop and it would taste good,” quips food aficionado Guy Fieri, as he chows down on yet another delectable dish.

The California dude with the spiked, bleached blond hair hosts three popular shows on the Food Network channel, but only Triple D (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) has spawned its own book with recipes included.

A New York Times best seller, the paper back highlights regional
eating establishments often rich is history with diverse menus and strict adherence to family recipes.

Sporting his trademark shades and driving a red convertible,  Guy cruises into small towns across the US  to investigate retro cuisine in each of four regions.

North East and Mid-Atlantic

Established in 1996, the Blue Moon Café specializes in breakfast comfort food, while their Cap’n Crunch French Toast remains a one-of-a-kind creation.

After being dipped in a mixture of cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla, the bread slices are pressed into the crushed cereal crumbs before being fried until both sides are caramelized. (6-8 minutes)

Baltimore Chef Sarah Simington finishes off the dish with fresh whipped cream, blueberries and more crunch.  (This recipe can be found on pages 12 and 13.)

South

Down in Richmond, Chef Jimmy Tsamouras serves familiar dishes with his own personal twist at Dot’s Back Inn.  To purchase this 16-year-old business, the Culinary Institute of America grad vowed not to change one tiny bit of the small, nondescript joint.

“You can’t knock the wurst,” jokes the Food Network Star, as he bites into the Sailor, a grilled  sandwich of knockwurst, pastrami, and Swiss cheese on rye with Dijon mustard.

Chef Jimmy shares his recipe for Chunky Monkey Pancakes on pages 108-9.   A whole banana is sprinkled with cinnamon and sauteed  in butter over medium heat before being wrapped in a chocolate chip, walnut pancake and garnished with whipped cream and confectioner’s sugar.

The Midwest

In Guido’s honor, the Triple D Burger (pages 136-7) has been added to the deep fried menu at Joe’s Gizzard City in Potterville, Michigan.

Two ground chuck patties are cooked medium rare and placed between two slices of America cheese, chopped white onion, tomato and pickle slices. The bun’s contents are smashed together tightly, dipped into pancake batter and fried until golden brown and crispy.

At Gizzard City, founded in 1960 with Grandma Bristol’s recipe for super tender, garlic fried chicken, Chef Joe will toss nearly anything into bubbling hot oil: hot dogs, burgers, fish, fries, even Oreos and Frinkies (fried Twinkies).

West and Southwest

Originally a 24-hour joint named El Patio, the Ramona Café boasts yet another deep fried delight, Chicken Cordon Bleu, topped with fresh Hollandaise.

In this small California eatery, cinnamon roll wizard, Sonja Vanderveen, produces football-sized rolls on a daily basis.  “You need a rubber spatula to get it off the roof of your mouth,” laughs Guy. Her Blue-Ribbon Cinnamon Rolls  can be found on pages 200-201.

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures create an appealing backdrop for the story of each establishment, the local chefs, the food and of course, the big ham bone himself.

For easy reference to the distinctive food of small town America, a recipe index is included.  Sadly, only 60 of the 122 restaurants featured on the Monday night Food Network Show could be included in the 250-page book.

Looking for unusual regional food on your next  road trip, take along a copy of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, An All American Road Trip with Recipes, co-authored by Ann Volkwein and this restaurateur with plenty of bling.

]]> http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/all-american-food/feed 0 http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/making-a-difference http://www.bookclubcompanion.com/how-to/making-a-difference#comments Sat, 30 May 2009 05:17:12 +0000 Linda http://bookclubcompanion.wordpress.com/?p=673 It’s easy to doubt that old saying:  one person can make a difference in the world.  Questioning our ability to act, also makes it easier for us to sit on our hands and do nothing for those outside our comfort zone.

But one man, Greg Mortenson, has veered way off course into the remotest corners of Asia to help educate some of the world’s poorest children. Since 1993, CAI (Central Asia Institute), founded by Mortenson and its main philanthropist Jean Hoerni, has erected 78 schools and raised the  dismal number of children receiving an education in Pakistan and Afghanistan to 7.2 million. (see May 22 & 23 posts for additional information.)

The Pennies for Peace program, a component of CAI, allows children, to be active participants in the creation of global peace. Here’s how we instituted the program at our church.

1. Find a presenter who can speak comfortably to a group of people.

We chose a retired, middle-school teacher who introduced the fund raising campaign by using the children’s picture book, Listen to the Wind. A group of children, ages 4-9, heard the story of Mortenson’s struggle to build the Korphe school and were fascinated by the imaginative illustrations of  Susan Roth.

Using a power-point presentation, the same speaker challenged the entire congregation to join the campaign.

2. Supply banks for the children to take home – an empty International Coffee container works well. It’s relatively easy to create a slot in the red plastic lid with an exacto knife. The web site, www.penniesforpeace.org, yields a variety of free, downloadable resources for use with any group.

Our International Coffee banks were decorated with two stickers: the Pennies for Peace logo and the clip art shown at the right.

Parents reported that their kids were having a blast searching for pennies under sofa cushions, picking up lost coppers from the sidewalk and even raiding their own piggy banks.

3. Place the Pennies for Peace logo on a large collection jar. ( Sam’s Club cheese ball or pretzel containers work well).

When the individual banks have reached capacity, your junior philanthropists can empty theirs  into the bigger container at church and start collecting again.

A similar jar should be placed in an area easily accessible to all congregation members for their contributions.

4. Decide the length of time to run your campaign. We chose the three summer months, because children return to ‘school’ at the end of summer vacation. Don’t forget to remind people frequently about the ongoing campaign.

5. Take your accumulated coins to your local bank and have them counted in their coin machine or better yet schedule a penny-counting party.
Write a check to Pennies for Peace (or the bank can make a cashier’s check).
Send it to Pennies for Peace, P.O. Box 7209, Bozeman, MT 59771.

Few of us can travel to the remotest corners of the world like Greg Mortenson, but we can make a difference in the lives of the children on the other side of the globe.

Who will you challenge?